Bedrest defined.

What is bed rest?
Technically, bed rest is: confinement to bed continuously (as in the case of some sick or injured persons).

For me (and many others stuck with this prescription) bed rest is: confinement to your couch / bed continuously (as in the case of pregnant women with high risk of preterm labor). Being forced to ignore the fact that you're house is an absolute pigsty. Mindlessly surfing the internet for at least three hours a day. Becoming BFFs with your streaming Netflix. Starting book after book after book. Promising to yourself that you'll complete all of those little projects you started when you first found out you were pregnant. And, most importantly, sitting, all day long, in an all too quiet house, alone, with almost nothing to distract your brain from going to the not so friendly place where all that exists is the simple fact that soon, very soon, you will be responsible for another tiny, screaming, pooping human being. Whether your greatest fear is the actual labor itself, or the imminent responsibility of ACTUALLY BEING IN CHARGE OF ANOTHER LIFE, your brain will find all of the worst case scenarios and dance them in front of you.

Hello, and welcome to my sad attempt at keeping myself sane while doing something that makes me feel semi productive.

My name is Shelby. As I type, I am 30 weeks and 5 days pregnant. For you who aren't as familiar with gestation as those of us living it day to day, that puts me in my third trimester. That means that I've made it through the agony of first trimester nausea, the incredible lie of second trimester "honeymoon phase", and have crossed into increasingly uncomfortable final phase.

Horray! Congrats! Almost there! I should be chugging through, getting maternity photos done, washing and folding tiny onesies, cleaning and recleaning every thing I see, glowing and bouncing around, prepping for our little newbie to arrive. Don't get my wrong; my husband, Casey, and I are incredibly excited for what's to come. We can't wait for our little trial and error child to get here. So why am I here, starting a blog, instead of finishing every list I can find?

About two weeks ago, when I had just entered my 28th week, the baby dropped. This means that the baby transistioned from floating around, high and everywhere, to being lower; preparing to enter the birth canal. Of course, I called my doctor when I started feeling the pressure of her little head on my pelvic area. Fast forward two weeks and the pressure to a level that I knew couldn't be right. Pair that with cramping and fact that I found what I thought to be a piece of my mucus plug (the nifty thing that keeps baby from coming out, and whatever from coming in), and doctor wanted to see me pronto.

80% effaced. At 30 weeks. Baby's head super low. Basically what this means is that my body had already completed a good majority of the work necessary for birth. My cervix was almost completely thinned out, and baby had already made her way low into my pelvis. All that was left was for me to dialate. Bedrest.

Luckily, after a day of rest and an overnight observation in the hopital, my cervix is back to only 50% effaced. My cramping has settled down, and I don't seem to be contracting regularly or progressing in any other matter. So there's that.

My next doctor's appointment is next Tuesday, and I am on orders for strick bedrest until then, at least. I can get up to use the rest room and make myself food. That is all. Even after this week, I have high doubts that I'll be allowed to return to work full time, if at all.

So here I am. Typing, sitting, watching the terrible mess that is Hoarding: Burried Alive on Netflix. Waiting.

My goal for this blog is to channel my energy. Get some of my emotions out. Mark my progress through strange crafts, books, movies, and television shows. Maybe find some others stuck in the same predicament? At least pass some time.

I think that that is all for now. Thanks for lending me your eyes and brains.